Eighty percent of Costa Serena residents signed a petition in support of parking permits.

Homeowners at the meeting were evenly split between being in favor of and against the permit requirement.

Objections to parking permits included the cost to homeowners on a fixed income and inconvenience to overnight guests.

“Neighbors that signed the petition didn’t know they have to pay to park in the street in front of their house,” Charles Simonson, an Oceanside resident, said. “Consider seniors that are very low income.”

Residents also objected to shouldering the responsibility to resolve a parking issue that all agree is caused by the neighboring Ocean Vista Apartments.

City staff confirmed the problem and reported an increase in vehicle break-ins, mailboxes blocked causing mail to not be delivered, trash left behind and vehicle work done on the street.

The city adopted parking permit regulations for the impacted neighborhood in 2005, and set a $15 yearly fee to cover signage and program costs.

The Loma Alta neighborhood requires parking permits because it too is impacted by apartment over-parking. Residents located closest to the apartments requested permits to curb the problem. A few years later, neighbors on adjacent blocks also requested permits as the problem moved further down the road.

Commission Chair John Scrivener and Commissioner Claudia Troisi both discussed the probability of the same situation happening in Costa Serena.

Troisi suggested the apartment owner take more responsibility and come up with a work plan to manage parking.